Tell me this isn’t the cutest snail you ever did see – look at those little orange antennae!

Interestingly, despite being a land snail, this gorgeous gastropod has retained a number of quirks from its sea-faring ancestors, including, most surprisingly, a set of gills!

It may simply be that evolution hasn’t quite caught up with this snail’s new habitat yet, but it’s more likely that there are in fact benefits to being a little bit amphibious in the wet and wild world of the Amazon. As a slow-moving snail, the presence of a set of gills could mean the difference between life and death during a sudden tropical downpour.

If the gills weren’t evidence enough that this snail’s ancestors were ocean-dwellers, then the eyes are another dead giveaway. While your typical garden-variety land snail has eyes at the end of its antennae, this particular snail has them at the base, a trait which is common among many sea snails.

As for why the antennae are a spectacular vibrant orange – your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps it just pays to be pretty!

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Tropical Land Snail (Aperostoma sp.), Manu Biological Station, Peru